Anybody observe Dry January? I’ve given up booze for nearly 46 hours now don’t know how people do it. I just really like the ritual of pouring myself a glass of wine or couple fingers of Scotch. It’s like a message to my brain that it can let go of everything it’s been holding on to all day. Only 29 more days to go…
Good luck, but no.
I’m more of a Dry-July kinda guy. Although I am from the southern hemisphere and we are having a warm summer right now. Beer helps with that.
I’m lucky and unlucky really when it comes to beer. I get a really upset stomach from beer, so if I’m gonna just have a couple of pints it’s really not worth the sacrifice of being off the next day. That helps tremendously with casual in the house drinking and I tend to only drink when it’s a proper drinking session and it will be worth feeling shit for!
Didn’t know it was a thing - makes sense it would be. I was planning on at least taking a week or two off from enjoying a dram of whisky or some other alcoholic drink.
I find myself overindulging on bad food and great booze over the holidays - I typically take some time to recollect myself and get the small “pull” of the alcohol I develop out of my system.
So yea, I’m giving it a go for at least a couple weeks - even though I have some nice Glenmorangie and Booker’s sitting on my bar.
I likely will after this weekend for a few weeks. I typically don’t drink much more than whiskey but when I do I eat like a moron. It’s a signal for my brain to eat all the cheese. This has extended itself over the Christmas season. I have done it in the past but find it off putting. It’s not like it’s difficult but I’m taking away my Friday/Saturday night treat. Like you, when I pour a glass, it’s more of a solitary thing and a signal to let the problems go.
I think over the entire festive season I had 5 drinks, 4 of which would have been on hogmanay.
I fucking suck these days. I used to be way more fun.
Yup, this year at least will be a dry one (I have high blood pressure & I wanna see how much of difference zero booze makes to my BP)…it probably won’t be fun, but I’ll save a few quid at least.
Dry January? This is the first time I’ve heard of such a thing (actually seeing it on two message boards). My only thought is “why the EFF would I want to do something like that?”
Not that I drink much at all. A glass of wine or two a month, maybe. But I just bought a couple bottles of awesome mead (Oppegaard, if anyone cares), and I’m not going to force some arbitrary no-touchy timeline on that.
I observe Dry January 12 months a year.
I’m 9 days in and down 4lbs. I’m a bit surprised I don’t feel any better during the day, though. I thought for sure I’d be waking up feeling great but I still feel like shit every AM. Guess it wasn’t the booze?
True test coming up next week as I have clients in from out of town and a friends B-day gathering at a bar.
I’d never heard that term before. Interesting.
Dieting as well, or just not drinking? That’s a lot of weight to lose just by dropping drinks.
You mentioned Dry January last year and it was the first I’d heard of it. The holidays, now that I have a life, are a boozy time for me. In fact, it starts with fall, which has us hosting out-of-towners over and over again for various reasons. I haven’t had a drink since NYE and feel - hmm, relieved, I guess. My work holiday party is on the 20th, and that’s traditionally been a big party night for me (DJ, dance floor - we usually let our hair down pretty thoroughly). I’m thinking about pulling out this year - I really just don’t want to drink.
I don’t drink daily or remotely close to it, and when Hockey and I are alone I’m moderate - glass or two of wine - but when there’s a group everything turns golden and joyous and the music gets louder and louder and I drink too much. I need to figure out how to do moderation in a social setting, but of course the problem is that once I have one or two I lose track of what I’m doing and/or don’t care. I don’t know how to build in boundaries once the “party” switch gets flipped.
Anyway, back on topic - I just really want to be clean for a bit.
Something my wife did that seems to work when she follows it (haha) is instead of using the debit card or w/e she’ll pull out $30 or so in cash which should cover about 2 drinks plus tip (1 more drink and it’s down hill fast for her lol) and she has something tangible that tracks it for her - the exact thing one needs to get a drink (unless someone else is buying - in which case my only advice is order something with diminishing marginal returns in terms of flavor or return - something you like 1 or 2 of, but that 2nd one isn’t as good as the first, the 3rd is even less so to the point another just doesn’t seem worth it being free…for my wife it’s usually like a margarita or something … they tend to get too sweet for her after the 2nd. For me it’s an old fashioned. The first is magnificent the 2nd isn’t worth having a 3rd.
I’m the reverse; very moderate in social settings and joyous and golden at home alone or with my husband. I hate the feeling of not being on the ball or coherent publicly; particularly work functions. Privately though, I love the relaxing feeling of alcohol and nothing to do or worry about.
No dieting. I was drinking about a bottle of wine a day, more on weekends. I probably lost some water weight as well given I’m not taking in the same amount of fluids anymore. I also increased my activity on Jan 1, though.
I think I slightly misrepresented - the work party is an anomaly for me in that it’s a genuinely public group thing. It’s just the next drinking occasion on my schedule. Mostly when I say “social setting” I mean hanging out with small groups of friends. That may start publicly - dinner and a couple of drinks - but we’re cautious about driving and being publicly impaired, so generally where I have trouble is at one of our houses, hanging with my posse. There’s nothing really wrong with it, it just feels not-in-control to me in sort of a big-picture way. @ouroboro_s I feel really comfortable drinking with Hockey alone. Even if we go for a second bottle of wine or get into the liquor cabinet for martini-type drinks it feels okay. Generally if we’re lit enough we’ll pocket a beer and go out tromping around in the fields and woods, which simmers us down nicely. I never have to piece together “what happened last night” when it’s just the two of us or I’m drinking wine with a single friend. Just when there’s a group. It just flips a switch for me. Possibly it’s the people in the group and their tendency to excess - we have a couple of friends in our close group who go hard. Maybe it’s their influence.
I had dinner with my best friend last night and she assures me that I’m a delight when I’m drinking and should have no concern about my behavior at the work party or otherwise. She’s attended sober, so I trust her to know. Nevertheless, I’m going to try to stick to two drinks at the party and not worry about Dry January. I think focusing on Moderation January would better benefit me. Polo, I’m going to drink something like rum and diet coke at the work party, which are fine but don’t go down for me the way wine does or have the “yummy!” factor of some of the other drinks. Thank you for mentioning going with less-preferred drinks. I need to get this thing figured out.
I don’t have much to add; I just wanted to chime in that rum and Coke Zero is my FAVORITE!
Dry January 2018 is in the books. I wish I had some profound changes to report but I only lost 2 lbs. I don’t feel appreciably better, my sleep didn’t improve, and it really hasn’t seem to make any kind of difference at all. I’m not going to go back to my bottle of wine + a cocktail a night habit because I don’t think it’s healthy but I’m certainly going to enjoy the fuck out of the Koval.
I thought this was about sex lol
I only have glass of wine like every 6 months so I’m always observing dryness
Your boyfriend must be very frustrated 
